Vehicle door lock



Nov. 19, 1957 B. J. CRAIG 2,813,418

VEHICLE DOOR LOCK Original Filed Dec. 18, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l L 4f i,1 I

Nov. 19, 1957 Original Filed Dec. 18, 1950 B. J. CRAIG 2,813,418

VEHICLE DOOR LOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q P Z I a United States Patent2,813,418 Patented Nov. 19, 1957 VEHICLE. DOOR LOCK Burnie J. Craig, LosAngeles, Calif.

Original application December 18, 1950, Serial No. 201,281, now PatentNo. 2,705,882, dated April 12, 1955. Divided and this application August17, 1954, Serial No. 450,411

3 Claims. (Cl. 70---135) This invention relates to a vehicle door lock.

The general object of the invention is to provide an improved vehicledoor lock by means of which one or more of the doors of a motor vehiclemay be held securely in locked position.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a coincidentaldoor locking system for locking a plurality of doors and wherein novellock members are employed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel door lockwherein a reciprocating lock member is employed and wherein acoincidental locking member is mounted on the reciprocating lock member.

Another object of the invention is to provide a door latch wherein arelease member is movable to locked and unlocked position by operating areciprocating lock member and wherein means is provided by means ofwhich closing of the door will either unlock the door or permit the doorto remain locked it it is closed while the parts are locked.

Another object of the invention is to provide a door lock including abase and a flange and wherein the flange has a reciprocating lock memberthereon which is movable to locked and unlocked position and which maybe selectively-when the door is closed while the lock is locked--becomeunlocked or remain locked and wherein the locking member performingthese functions includes a coincidental locking member which cooperateswith means on the vehicle body whereby all the door locks may besimultaneously locked or unlocked.

' Another object of the invention is to provide a novel dovetailconstruction for locks.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel strike for locks.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel operating memberfor coincidental door locks.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, looking in the directionof the arrow 1 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, looking in the direction of thearrow 2 in Fig. 3 and showing the opposite side of the door lock;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the door lock;

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 44, Fig. 1;

Fig. 4A is an isometric view, showing the coincidental lock member;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal, sectional view showing the door lock andassociated door and pillar;

Fig. 6 is an isometric View of the dovetail member;

Fig. 7 is. an isometric view of the actuating member;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1, showing a modification;

t Fig.9 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the modification, and t tFig. is a section taken on line 10--10, Fig. 8.

This application is a division of application Serial No.

201,281, filed December 18, 1950, now Patent No. 2,705,882, grantedApril 12, 1955. In said application Serial No. 201,281 the claimsintroduced were broadly drawn to both species of the invention andspecifically to the species of Figs. 1 to 7, wherein the actuatingmember rocks the dog. In the present application all claims are drawn tothe species of Figs. 8, 9 and 10 wherein an arm is moved by theactuating member and the arm in turn releases the dog.

Referring to the drawing by reference characters, the invention is shownas embodied in a vehicle door latch which is indicated generally at 10.As shown the latch includes a body 11 adapted to be secured to a vehicledoor 12. The body 11 includes a flange 13.

The body 11 supports a rotatable shaft 14 which, on the outer face ofthe body has a bolt 15 fixed thereon and at the inner face has a ratchetmember 16 fixed thereon.

The rotary bolt 15 projects beyond the end of the door 12 and coactswith a strike member 17 which has teeth 18 thereon and is secured to thedoor pillar 19 by fastening members 20. The rotary bolt includes teeth21 which engage the teeth 18.

The ratchet 16 is adapted to be engaged by an ear 22 on a dog 23 whichis shown as pivoted at 24 to the body 11. The dog has another car 25which is engaged by an intermediate portion 26 of a spring 26, mountedon a fastening member 27. The dog is thus normally urged to engagedposition.

The dog 23 is shown as adapted to be rocked by an arm 28 fixed on ashaft 29. The arm 28 engages an arm 28* on the dog 23. The arm 28 isadapted to be rocked by a crank 30, which is adapted to be actuated by aremote control member on the inside of a door. The remote control membermay be similar to the remote control member shown in Craig Patent2,450,372, granted September 28, 1948.

The dog 23 also includes an upwardly extending arm 31 which has a bentend tongue 32 which is adapted to be engaged by a tongue portion 33 onan actuating member 34, which is shown as mounted on a release arm 35 bymeans of a pivot pin 36. The release arm 35 is pivoted on the bodymember 11 at 36 and is engaged and urged to non-releasing position bythe free end of the spring 26.

The construction is such that when the release arm 35 is pushed inwardly(to the right in Fig. 1) as by a push member 37, which is operated by apush button 38 on a door handle 39, the actuating member 34 will bemoved to the right in Fig. l, causing the portion 33 to engage theportion 32 of the dog 23 to rock the dog so that the ear 22 will beshifted to clear the ratchet 16 and to allow the shaft 14 to rotate tothus free the bolt 15.

The strike 17 coacts with a wedge member 40 which preferably consists ofa one-piece stamping bent up to form an upper base portion 41 and alower base portion 42 from which a wedge 43 is punched up. This wedgemember includes an upper portion 44 and a. lower portion 45 as well as atop 46. Through the upper base portion 41 the fastening member 27extends. The pivot member 24 extends through the lower base portion 42.The wedge member 40 includes an inclined flange 47 which is perpendicular to the lower base portion 42.

The bottom portion of the wedge 43 is engageable by a wedge 48 on thestrike. The wedge 48 has a planar lower face 49, slidably engaging aface 50 on the strike 17. A spring 51 partly disposed in a hole in thewedge 48, normally urges the wedge 48 to the right in Fig. 2 towards ashoulder 53 on the strike. The strike 17 has a groove 54 which engages abead 55 on the Wedge 48. A cover member 56, which may be spot welded tothe strike as at 57, prevents removal of the wedge 48 but allows it toslide. The wedge member flange 47, which is inclined, engages asimilarly inclined face 58 on the strike 17.

As the door is closed the strike member teeth 18 engage the teeth 21 onthe rotary bolt and as a result the rotary bolt will be rotated to theposition shown in Fig. 2 so that the car 22 on the dog 23 engages one ofthe ratchet teeth 16 and is held in engagement therewith by the springportion 26 previously described.

While the parts are moving to the position in Fig. 2, the wedge member48 will be first forced to the left in Fig. 2 by engagement with thelower face of the wedge 43 until the door is closed, whereupon thespring 51 will gradually urge the wedge 48 forwardly as the parts settleto position wherein the inclined face 58 on the strike 17 engages theflange 47 in wedging relation. This wedging action will cause the teeth18 to engage the teeth 21 firmly, with no up or down play, thus holdingthe door securely in closed position.

When closed, the door may be opened by pushing on the button 38 to rockthe release arm 35 and to thereby shift the actuating member 34 to theright in Fig. 1. This will cause the portions 33 and 32 to engage torock the dog 23 and thereby free the ratchet 16.

To lock the latch against opening from without the vehicle, theactuating member 34 is moved from the full line position in Fig. l tothe broken line position in this figure and in doing this the portion 33on the actuating member will be raised above the portion 32 on the dogso that movement of the actuating member by the push button 38 will notrelease the ratchet.

To etfect the locking operation, the actuating member 34 is providedwith a forwardly extending portion 60, from which a tongue 61 extendsupwardly. The end of the portion fits in a slot 62 in a locking member63 which includes slots 64 which receive guide pins 65 fastened on theflange 13 to reciprocatingly mount the lock member.

The lock member 63 includes a U-shaped portion 66 which projectsforwardly and in which the slot 62 previously mentioned is arranged. Theupper wall of the U- shaped portion 66 has a slot 67 through which thetongue 61 slides. The end of the portion 60 is bent over to form atongue 67 which prevents upward movement of the portion 60 into the slot67.

The U-shaped portion 66 is engaged by an enlarged rounded portion 68 ona locking arm 69 which is pivoted as at 70 on the flange 13. The lockingarm 69 includes an aperture 71 which receives a push member 72 whichextends to the window moulding of the door, thus permitting the arm 69to be rocked.

When the member 72 is pushed downwardly, the portion 68 will be raised,thus raising the U-shaped portion 66 and raising the lock member 63.This will cause the actuating member 34 to be raised so that the portion32 and 33 will be out of alignment, whereupon when the actuating member34 is moved to the right in Fig. l, the dog 23 will not be rocked, inother words, there will be a locking action.

In order to prevent the user from accidentally locking himself out ofthe vehicle and also to provide means for readily locking the vehicledoor when it is so desired, the present construction includes a lockoperating member 80 which has slots 81 slidable on the pins 65previously mentioned. The member 80 includes a U-shaped outstandingportion 82 which is disposed about the U- shaped portion 66 but isspaced therefrom. This U- shaped portion 82 includes a slot 83 in whichthe forwardly extending portion 60 on the actuating member 34 isdisposed.

The slot 83 is longer than the combined length of the tongue 61 and thewidth of portion 60 of the actuating member 34 so that there isa spaceabove the upper end of the tongue 61, as shown in Fig. 1 when thepartsare unilocked. When the actuating member 34 is moved to the 4locked position, the upper end of the tongue 61 will be adjacent theupper end of the slot 83.

When the actuating member is in locked position and the lock operatingmember is moved downwardly, the lock operating member will engage thetongue 61 and will rock the actuating member 34 downwardly to unlockedposition.

In order to move the lock operating member 80 downwardly to unlockedposition Whenever a door is closed, the free end of the arm 28 on thedog 23 fits in a slot 87 in the lower end of the lock operating member80. Thus when the door is closed the bolt 15 will be rotated and theratchet 16 will also be rotated so that the dog 23 will be rocked aboutits pivot 24, thus moving the arm 23 downwardly, thereby causing theupper wall of the slot 83 to engage and pull down the tongue 61 tothereby pull the actuating member 34 downwardly to unlocked position.

If, however, when the actuating member 34 is in locked position, that isin the broken line position in Fig. l, and is held inwardly by pushingon the push button 38 as the door is being closed, the dog arm 28 willmove the lock operating member 80 downwardly but since the tongue 61will have been moved inwardly beyond the slot 83 and into the path of aslot 88 in the top wall of the U-shaped portion 82 so that downwardmovement of the member 80, when tongue 61 and slot 88 are aligned, willnot cause movement of the actuating member 34, and the latter will beleft in broken line-locked-position.

Thus it will be seen that by placing the latch in locked position andshutting the door while the actuating member 34 is in the dottedlinelocked-position shown in Fig. 1, there will be an unlocking action,but if While this member 34 is in locked position and is pushedinwardly, as by its operating push button while the door is beingclosed, the parts will remain locked.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the actuatingmember 34 may be moved up and down from unlocked to locked position andvice versa without moving the lock operating member 80 and that when theactuating member 34 moves, the lock member 63 will be moved up and down.

To move the lock member up or down from without the vehicle a U-shapedupper end 90 of the locking member 63 is engaged by a crank member 91mounted on the flange 13. This crank member 91 is adapted to be rockedby a lock bar 92 which is rotatable with the core 93in a barrel 94 of alock when the proper key 95 is inserted and turned. The key hole for thekey 95 is accessible from without the vehicle door so that access isafforded to the user who has the proper key.

The lock member 63 is held in either its up or its down position bymeans of a snap-over spring 96 (Fig. 4) which engages the lock memberand the flange 13.

To provide for coincidental locking of doors on the same side of thevehicle a coincidental locking roller 100 is arranged on a shaft 10.1,which latter includes an otfset body portion 102, shown as secured as bywelding at 103 to the lower face of the U-shaped portion 66. The roller100 is adapted to engage the upper or lower wings 104 and 105,respectively, of a coincidental locking control member which isindicated generally at 106 and which includes a body 107 from which apair of tongues 108 extend.

The tongues 108 pass through a slot 109 in the pillar and are accessiblewithin the vehicle for movement up and down to effect the locking andunlocking action. The body 107 includes tongues 107' from which thewings 104 and 105, previously mentioned, are bent. The control member106 is mounted on a shaft 110 which is supported in brackets 111removably secured to the inside of the pillar as by suitable screws 112.The wings with the integral connecting body 107 serve to coincidentallylock adjacent doors.

Doors on opposite sides of the vehicle may be coincidentally locked asby a Bowden wire 113 which is suitably secured to the control members106. To cause simultaneous action the Bowden wire is coupled to thecontrol member 106 at the upper left hand portion of Fig. 5 to the upperside of the control member. The other end of the Bowden wire isconnected to the opposite control member at the lower side thereof. Thuscontrol members on opposite sides of the vehicle both simultaneouslymove in the same direction.

The coincidental locking control members 106 on the pillar take theposition of the shafts 101 on closed doors. The control members 106 moveto locked or unlocked position as each door is closed. The snap oversprings 96 serve to hold the coincidental locking control members inposition. Inertia of the moving parts carries coincidental controlmembers 106 over center so that the springs 96 take over and pull theparts to fully locked or unlocked position.

In Figs. 8 and 9, a modification of the invention is shown. In themodification parts similar to those previously described are designatedby single primed reference numerals. In the modification the arm 31 isomitted and an arm which consists of a long portion 120 arrangedintegral with a short portion 28 is provided so that when the longportion 120 is rocked in the manner heretofore described it will rockthe short portion 28 and thus rock the arm 28 to release the latch. Byproviding the long portion 120 and the short portion 28' a favorablelever ratio is secured and this permits a light pressure on the pushmember 126 to be used to cause the bolt to be released. In themodification also the release arm 35 merely supports the actuatingmember 34. The actuating member 34' is moved to bolt releasing positionby a push member 125 which is pushed inwardly by a push member 126 on ahandle 127. A key 128, when inserted and turned, will rotate the pushmember 125 so that a projection 129 on the push member will shift themember 34' to locked or unlocked position. Parts 125 to 128 may besimilar to the construction shown in applicants co-pending applicationSer. No. 185,416, filed September 18, 1950 now Patent No. 2,686,419,granted August 17, 1954.

In the modification the lock bar 92 and its associated parts areomitted.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. In a door latch, a movable bolt, means for holding the bolt inengagement with a strike, an actuating member, means mounting theactuating member for movement to holding means releasing position, apivoted arm engageable with the holding means, said actuating memberalso i being movable between an effective position in which it isoperatively associated with said pivoted arm and an inetfective positionin which said operative association is interrupted, said pivoted armbeing movable by the actuating member to releasing position when theactuating member is in its effective position to cause the bolt holdingmeans to be freed, said actuating member being inoperative when moved toreleasing position while it is in its ineffective position to cause thearm to move the bolt holding means to free the bolt, a shiftable lockmember having a sliding connection with the actuating member andoperable to move said actuating member between its eflEective positionand its inefiective position, said sliding connection permitting saidactuating member to slide to holding means releasing position while thelock member remains stationary, restoring means operating by the boltholding means upon a closing movement of the door, while the actuatingmember is in its ineffective position, for restoring said actuatingmember to its effective position, and means effective when the actuatingmember is in its inetfective position and is moved to its releasingposition to prevent the closing movement of the door from restoring saidactuating member to its efiective condition.

2. In a door lock, a base having a flange thereon, a bolt pivoted on thebase, a ratchet on the bolt, a dog engaging the ratchet to normallyprevent release of the bolt, a release member pivotally mounted on thebase for movement to and from bolt releasing position, an actuatingmember pivoted to the release member, said actuating member beingmovable to locked and unlocked positions, means whereby said actuatingmember causes release of the dog when the release member is moved toreleasing position while the actuating member is in unlocked position,said last mentioned means being inefiective to cause release of the dogwhen the release member is moved while the actuating member is in lockedposition, a locking member movably mounted on the flange for movement toand from looking position, means to limit movement of the locking memberin each direction, means to hold the locking member in either looking orin unlocking position, means accessible from within the vehicle formoving the locking member from locked to unlocked position and viceversa, means connecting the actuating member and the locking member sothat the locking member moves the actuating rocking member to and fromlocked position, an outside lock, a member adapted to be rocked by saidlock, and means spaced from the locking member and inter-connecting theactuating member and the rocking member and operated by said rockingmember for moving said actuating member to and from locked position.

3. In a door look, a base having a flange thereon and extendingsubstantially at right angles thereto, a bolt pivoted on the base, aratchet rigid on the bolt, holding and releasing means engaging theratchet to normally prevent release of the bolt, a release membermovably mounted on the base for movement to and from a bolt releasingposition, an actuating member engageable with the release member andadapted to be moved by the release member, said release member beingmovable at all times to move the actuating member, said actuating memberbeing movable between an effective position in which it is operativelyassociated with said holding and releasing means and an ineffectiveposition in which said operative association is interrupted, saidactuating member being movable by the release member to releasingposition when the actuating member is in its eifective position to causethe holding and releasing means to be freed from the ratchet, saidactuating member being inoperative when moved to releasing positionwhile it is in its inefiective position to free the bolt, a lockingmember disposed on the flange for movement to and from looking position,means interconnecting the actuating member and the locking member sothat the locking member moves the actuating member to and from lockedposition, means to hold the locking member in either locked or inunlocked position, a locking arm pivoted on the flange and including apart engaging the locking member for moving the locking member to andfrom its locked position, means accessible from within the vehicle formoving the locking arm from locked to unlocked position and vice versa,an outside look, a lever member rocked by said outside lock, and meansoperated by said lever member for causing said actuating member to bemoved from locked to unlocked position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,221,181 Dall Nov, 21, 1940 2,557,468 Roethel June 19, 1951 2,569,047Endter Sept. 25, 1951 2,587,583 Allen et al. Mar. 4, 1952 2,629,618Roethel Feb. 24, 1953 2,705,884 Craig Apr. 12, 1955

